“In the role of Butterfly, Hui He made a splendid entrance with Act one’s “ancora un passo,” flanked by her proceeding relatives and their eye-catching, traditional costumes. The soprano’s youthful tones carried wonderfully through the excited, legato phrases which blossomed into a soaring B-flat conclusion. Her infatuation lent itself to her flirtatious lines with Pinkerton, as she revealed her conversion to Christianity and willingness to leave her family, framing these as loving sacrifices. The character’s volatile emotions were expertly captured by Hui He throughout her time onstage, with her sensitivity to the words of others able to drive extended passages of suspicious or romantic fervor. This was powerfully heard in her Act two aria “Un bel di vedremo,” where her delicate passion quickly swept her up into a sonorous reverie, finishing as she demurred and closed the screen door as if to give herself a reprieve from the emotional excess. After the truth of Pinkerton’s return is made clear to her in Act three, Hui He’s utterly crushed lines were highly gripping as she readied for her suicide; her final aria “Tu? Tu? Piccolo iddio” was a thing of ruinous beauty as her grieving farewell to her child swelled to tremendous vocal heights.”

Logan Martell, Operawire

“It was a performance where a singer fully embraced the character they are portraying and Hui He’s Butterfly metamorphosed into someone rather more defiant than vulnerable. That Hui He is many years older than Butterfly is supposed to be never mattered in the slightest as in the end her identification with the role was so complete. With excellent stamina Hui He poured forth some wonderfully exciting sounds from a large voice ideal for Puccini. When she sang ‘Un bel di’ her faith and longing were tangible and her eventual suicide – after a heart-breaking cry of despair – was deeply affecting.”

Jim Pritchard, Seen and Heard International

“Luckily, the opera has a beating heart in Hui He as Cio-Cio-San. Her performance is completely credible. She knows how to look into the girl’s soul corners: naive, spasmodically hopeful, serious when it comes to death and above all, clinging to that wonderful positivity. Hui He brings it all in. Her performance really touches.”

Peter’t Hart, Place de l’Opera

“The title role was played by Chinese soprano Hui He. She is very comfortable vocally, she develops her game from the childy sentences of the first act until the climax of the drama with naturalness. The tone is nourished and the high notes are ample. It is in the third act that the singer fully captures the drama of her character, towards a final scene imbued with full and assumed dramatic intention with the final overwhelming “Va, gioca, gioca” accents.”

Jeanne Auffret, Olyrix

The exception is soprano Hui He, who billows with old-school prima donna energy; a hurricane of determined if not always poetic movement. That’s how her voice works, too: a full out wait that sets the theater vibrating. She alone on stage understands the high stakes of this opera”

James Jorden, Observer